Beleaguered smartphone makers Nokia, RIM ink patent pact

BlackBerry maker writes checks to make lawsuits go away.

Finnish phone-maker Nokia, once dominant in the cell phone market, is hoping that it can use its patents to stay afloat during a more difficult time. It might work, at least for a while. Nokia said today it will put all its patent litigation with Blackberrry maker Research in Motion to rest for an undisclosed sum.

The payment amount is secret, but it includes RIM making both one-time and ongoing payments to Nokia.

In any case, it's not going to be as big as the settlement Nokia scored with Apple in 2011, which analysts estimate has probably earned the company "hundreds of millions" of euros. With RIM continuing to suffer from slumping sales of BlackBerries, it's simply not in a position to pay a large settlement.

Nokia has ongoing patent disputes with HTC and ViewSonic, the company told Reuters today. The company is turning into a licensing juggernaut in the mobile space, earning around €500 million in patent royalties annually.

The Nokia announcement included a quote from its IP chief, Paul Melin, suggesting that patent licensing will continue to be a focus for the Finnish company. Melin recently spoke in defense of the patent-licensing business at an FTC forum, putting him at odds with other tech companies who have derided the problem of "patent trolls."

"We are very pleased to have resolved our patent licensing issues with RIM and reached this new agreement, while maintaining Nokia's ability to protect our unique product differentiation," said Melin today. "This agreement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

7 Reader Comments

Deriding patent trolls is perfectly fine: In this instance, I'm certain nobody can call Nokia a "patent troll". They have been in the business for an extremely long time, and it's completely understandable that they put R&D into actual patents that they have actually used - licensing them is a logical step and it's the primary reason patents like that exist.

They would only be patent trolls if they had no intent to ever use the patents, or were glaringly overbroad in their definition, things that would have lost nokia a win against companies like Apple who have significant legal clout to contest them.

I've never understood why some people think that licensing patents is wrong. Licensing patents is a fundamental right of the Constitution. The concept goes back to the Romans in the West, and the Chinese in the East. What is the purpose of patents if not to use for oneself, and to license to other parties?

In any case, it's not going to be as big as the settlement Nokia scored with Apple in 2011, which analysts estimate has probably earned the company "hundreds of millions" of euros. With RIM continuing to suffer from slumping sales of BlackBerries, it's simply not in a position to pay a large settlement.

Is not correct. I think it has to do with the fact that both Nokia and RIM have hundreds of relevant phone/data related patents, whereas Apple is a relative newcomer. Cross-licensing would make lots of sense for RIM and Nokia, whereas Apple doesn't have much to offer, and essentially nothing that they're willing to offer.

In any case, it's not going to be as big as the settlement Nokia scored with Apple in 2011, which analysts estimate has probably earned the company "hundreds of millions" of euros. With RIM continuing to suffer from slumping sales of BlackBerries, it's simply not in a position to pay a large settlement.

Is not correct. I think it has to do with the fact that both Nokia and RIM have hundreds of relevant phone/data related patents, whereas Apple is a relative newcomer. Cross-licensing would make lots of sense for RIM and Nokia, whereas Apple doesn't have much to offer, and essentially nothing that they're willing to offer.

But modern smartphones are more little computers then they are phones. So apple is not the newcomer that you suggest. Mobile phones had become pretty common and cheap so it is very sad that these companies who fail to develop new products will use that kind of patents to stop progress in their market.